The Browns’ brass headed to Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday hoping to take home their new head coach. They left in the same way they arrived — still searching.
The Browns met with Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine for about four hours Tuesday night in Mobile, site of the Senior Bowl workouts, and this time team president Alec Scheiner and General Manager Mike Lombardi were in on the meeting as well as team owner Jimmy Haslam, plus CEO Joe Banner, according to reports.
The meeting ended without Pettine being offered a contract. It doesn’t mean the Browns won’t go back to Pettine a third time, but at least one interview with another candidate was expected to take place Wednesday.
It was the second meeting with Pettine, but the first when all four club officials sat at the same table with him — a sign Pettine has zoomed toward the top of the list of the eight candidates interviewed to replace Rob Chudzinski, who was fired on Dec. 29.
Early on Tuesday, Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase called the Browns to tell them he was withdrawing his name for consideration so he can concentrate on preparing for the Super Bowl a week from Sunday. Gase, a perceived frontrunner since a day after Chudzinski was fired, never was interviewed. He declined from the beginning so he could concentrate on the playoffs and perhaps set himself up for a choice job a year from now.
Whether related or not, things heated up after the call from Gase. The Browns set up the meeting with Pettine and reportedly want to interview Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, according to Alex Marvez of Fox Sports. Koetter would be the ninth candidate interviewed.
Koetter, 54, has been the Falcons’ offensive coordinator since 2012.
The Falcons were 13-3 in 2012 and ranked eighth in the league offensively. They were 4-12 in 2013 and ranked 14th offensively. They ranked 20th in points scored in 2013 (353) a year after finishing seventh in scoring with 412 points. On Jan. 2, Koetter signed a one-year extension with the Falcons through 2014.
Koetter was the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator from 2007-11. Jacksonville scored only 243 points in 2011.
Koetter has never been a head coach in the NFL, but he has nine years of college head coaching experience. He was 40-34 in six seasons at Arizona State and 26-10 in three years at Boise State.
More names could surface in the coaching search. During his season wrap-up news conference, 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters the Browns asked about some assistants on his staff — possibly offensive coordinator Greg Roman and/or defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. ESPN reported the Browns last week did a background check on 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula.
Pettine was the seventh coach interviewed in a process that began on Jan. 1 when Haslam and Banner met with Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Haslam and Banner first met with Pettine last Thursday.
On Sunday, reports broke the Browns wanted another meeting with Pettine and that they wanted to interview Quinn again. A date for a second meeting has not been reported, but if the Browns did want a meeting with Quinn before the Super Bowl, they would have to do so by Sunday at a place and time approved by the Seahawks. They would not be able to offer Quinn a contract until after the Super Bowl. Quinn would then have to field a coaching staff.
Pettine is not a big-name coach, but the Browns do not care about that. As Banner has said, Andy Reid was not a big name in 1999 when Banner hired him to coach the Eagles. Reid was a big name by the time he left Philadelphia after 14 seasons.
Pettine, 47, just finished his first year as the Bills’ defensive coordinator. The Bills were 6-10, ranked 10th in defense and were second in the league with 57 sacks and second with 23 interceptions.
Pettine coached in the shadow of Rex Ryan for 10 years, first in Baltimore from 2002-2008 (Ryan was defensive coordinator from 2005-2008) and then in New York as the Jets defensive coordinator from 2009-2012 with Ryan as head coach.
The Bills in 2013 played a hybrid 3-4 defense, which is the base defense used by Ray Horton last year in his one-and-done stint as Browns defensive coordinator.